What's Up?

Q: As a non-parent, I will have a great deal of trouble knowing when school is in session next school year when the year-round calendar takes effect. Has the town given any consideration to installing the yellow caution lights that flash when school is in session like they have in the Valley?

A: The short answer is, "No," said Payson Engineer LaRon Garrett. "They are fairly expensive to put in. You have to get power to them, and then with all the time changes involved with the new school calendar, they'd have to be reprogrammed all the time." The flashing lights, which are permanently installed "right into the sign," are probably not an option in a tight budget year like this one, Garrett said. For what it's worth, he said, the current signs specify the school day as 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. "Of course, starting next week there won't be any school, so I can see how the existing signage can be confusing," he said.

Q: In reference to the story in Tuesday's Roundup about Operation ABC Mobilization, the seat belt crackdown, most people don't realize that pets also have to be under restraint. Otherwise they end up on drivers' laps where they block their view and get in the way of the steering wheel. The Mesa police enforce this. Do our local police?

A: There is no restriction requiring animals to be restrained, Payson Police Lt. Don Engler said. "What the caller is probably referring to," he said, "is the obstruction of view statute."

It says a person shall not drive a vehicle when the load or passengers obstruct the driver's view to the front or sides of the vehicle or interfere with control over the vehicle.

"Any police officer who saw an animal causing obstruction or interfering with control would enforce that statute," Engler said. "Ours certainly would."